scholarly journals Activation policies and social inclusion in Denmark and Portugal

2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 054-073 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Hespanha ◽  
Iver Horneman Møller
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Labour Market Policies ◽  
Right To Work ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Unemployed ◽  
Social Insertion

In recent years labour market policies have shifted from a philosophy of material compensation for the loss of a job to a philosophy of promoting new opportunities for employment through activation programmes for unemployed workers or social assistance recipients. The discourse of activation is compelling and it contains very positive arguments for the materialisation of basic social rights, or even of new social rights such as the right to work and to social insertion. Its practice, nonetheless, raises serious problems given its permeability to ethical, financial and bureaucratic distortions. In this article the inclusionary impact of activation programmes for the unemployed is analysed in two quite different social and political contexts: Denmark and Portugal.

Activated and included? The social inclusion of social assistance beneficiaries engaged in “public works”

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (9/10) ◽  
pp. 738-751
Author(s):  
Silvia Girardi ◽  
Valeria Pulignano ◽  
Roland Maas
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Market Integration ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Social Assistance ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Labour Market Integration ◽  
The Social

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss how employment regulations and stigma, arising from working for welfare in “public works”, limit the social inclusion of social assistance beneficiaries. Activation in “public works” is meant for those beneficiaries unable to participate to the unsubsidised labour market because of range of work impairments. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on qualitative interviews concerning the perspectives of social assistance beneficiaries in Luxembourg who work in “public works” activation schemes in exchange for social assistance support. The paper uses an encompassing definition of social inclusion based on the idea of social rights. Findings Access to legal employment status and to social rights are fundamental conditions to foster social inclusion and labour market integration. People in “public works” schemes consider their inclusion hampered by the lack of a legal status that could allow them to access social rights, basic social services and economic life – such as decent housing or access to credit – and the presence of stigma related to working for social assistance. Social implications Ensuring social protection of work and lifting stigma aside labour market integration are key for a social inclusion strategy that could support social assistance beneficiaries’ social inclusion. Originality/value Debate on activation, including that arising from social investment, stress the centrality of labour market integration for social inclusion but does not take into account institutional factors – such as the social protection of work – and stigmatisation practices that can directly undermine the social inclusion of social assistance beneficiaries working for welfare.

A Study on the Social Rights of Female-Headed Single Parent with a Focus on the Right to Work and Care

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-115
Author(s):  
Soo Jung Jang ◽  
Kyungheun Baek ◽  
Byoung-Inn Kim ◽  
Hyejung Lee ◽  
Jin Bhang Oh
Keyword(s):  
Single Parent ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Right To Work ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Right

Income support policies and labour market reforms under austerity in Greece

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manos Matsaganis
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Income Support ◽  
Labour Market Policies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Employment Service ◽  
Active Labour ◽  
Protection Legislation ◽  
Funding Opportunities ◽  
Constructive Engagement ◽  
The Unemployed

This chapter reviews the changes in labour market policies under conditions of harsh austerity and mass unemployment in Greece in 2010-2015. Three policy areas are covered: income support to the unemployed, active labour market policies, and employment protection legislation. We find that labour market policies in Greece have failed to rise to the challenge of harsh austerity and mass unemployment. A legacy of backwardness, neglect, and general lack of sophistication proved difficult if not impossible to overturn under the emergency conditions prevailing since 2010. Moreover, as regards the less controversial aspects of the structural reforms demanded by the country’s creditors under the bailout agreements (for instance, supporting job creation, upgrading the Public Employment Service, and improving the absorption, as well as the effectiveness of EU funding), the domestic actors’ preferred approach of passively adjusting to European funding opportunities, rather than genuinely puzzling for solutions, left no room for a more constructive engagement. The adverse effects of the resulting handicap are there for all to see.

scholarly journals SOCIAL INCLUSION OF INDIVIDUALS SUFFERING FROM EXCLUSION – EVALUATION OF MOTIVES AND ACTIONS IN VIEW OF OWN RESEARCH

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-89
Author(s):  
Mariola Szewczyk-Jarocka
Keyword(s):  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Social Awareness ◽  
Significant Extent ◽  
Entire Sample ◽  
Survey Question ◽  
Retirement Pension ◽  
Municipal Employment ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Unemployed

Main aim of analyses presented in the article was to determine the motives and actions which promote social inclusion of the unemployed, most frequently suffering from social exclusion. The survey was conducted in 2018 based on the questionnaire among the population of 350 respondents. The analyses included the distribution of answers to survey question within the entire sample together with the verification of statistical significance between the answers provided and such variables as: gender, age, education and period of being registered in Municipal Employment Office. Results of the study show that increasing social awareness on the access to benefits is an important motif influencing social inclusion. The awareness of the fact of being deprived of the right to retirement pension, no access to healthcare and increased creditworthiness shape the knowledge of the society in relation to the importance of working within the official labour market to a significant extent.

scholarly journals The Benefit non-take-up in the Context of Cash Social Assistance Reform in Lithuania

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 96-121
Author(s):  
Tautvydas Vencius ◽  
Vitalija Gabnytė ◽  
Jekaterina Navickė
Keyword(s):  
Social Assistance ◽  
Growth Cycle ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
System Reform ◽  
Economic Cycle ◽  
Annual Average ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
Single Person ◽  
The Right ◽  
Annual Average Number

The purpose of this article is to present the results of cash social assistance (CSA) benefit non-take-up in the context of the CSA system reform in Lithuania. The right to adequate minimum income benefits is one of the 20 key principles under the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR). Using the tax-benefit microsimulation model EUROMOD we seek to identify all those eligible to CSA benefit and to analyse its non-take-up rates in Lithuania. The analysis for 2016 showed that CSA benefit non-take-up in Lithuania was around 22%. This means that around one fifth of those who are entitled to this benefit do not get it for various reasons. The results show that there are two types of households, with a non-take-up rate exceeding 30%: single person and lone parent households. The dynamics of CSA benefit non-take-up between 2007-2016 were strongly negatively correlated to the annual average number of recipients of the CSA benefit. This makes for a counter-cyclical dynamic of the CSA non-take-up relative to the economic growth cycle. We find some evidence of an increase in the CSA non-take-up rate following the recent CSA reform in Lithuania. Further analysis is needed to distinguish between the effects of the economic cycle and the CSA reform.

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